The IDF has liberated the Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya areas of northern Gaza, and continues its hunt for Hamas leadership in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Five IDF soldiers were confirmed KIA since Wednesday, the bodies of 5 hostages were retrieved.
The 162nd Division of the IDF is currently engaged in military operations in Jabaliya in Gaza, during which about 1,000 terrorists have been killed. About 7,000 Hamas terrorists had been killed by Dec. 9, which National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi called “a conservative estimate.” 3,000 have been taken prisoner in Gaza.
In one of the raids on the Rantisi hospital, it emerged that hostages were being held underground at the hospital – but were moved away before IDF forces entered the complex, Arutz Sheva reports. During combat activities in the surrounding neighborhood, the bodies of five civilians and soldiers who were kidnapped on October 7 were found and returned to Israel.
In Gaza City, forces found mortars and explosives inside a house next to a kindergarten. In a nearby house, a rocket launcher aimed towards Israel was discovered, along with an RPG, JNS reported. In Khan Yunis, soldiers uncovered military uniforms, explosive charges and combat equipment inside a residential home. Engineering forces destroyed a tunnel from which terrorists had emerged to fire an RPG at troops.
בפעילות של צוות קרב חטיבה 646 במרחב ג’חר א דיק, איתרו הלוחמים מחסן אמל”ח ובו אמצעי לחימה רבים. במהלך הפעילות איתרו כוחות האיסוף של החטיבה משגרי רקטות לטווח ארוך מהם בוצעו שיגורים לאחרונה לשטח ישראל. המשגרים הושמדו בתקיפה אווירית>> pic.twitter.com/lumaViZorL
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 22, 2023
Over the past two days, forces have carried out raids at a school on the outskirts of Al Shati in northern Gaza where terrorists operated. Soldiers found weapons and maps belonging to Hamas, according to JNS.
The IDF also announced it had achieved operational control of the Hamas stronghold neighborhood of Shuja’iyya, in northern Gaza. Soldiers of the 36th Division fought close-quarters combat with terrorists using firearms and explosives, JNS reports.
צוות הקרב של חטיבה 5 פשט על מתחם הקסבה בבית חאנון בשבוע שעבר. לוחמי צוות הקרב יחד עם סיוע אש אווירי, תצפיות וכוחות הנדסה – טיהרו את מרחב הקסבה, חיסלו מחבלים, תקפו עשרות מטרות ותשתיות טרור באמצעות הפעלת אש>> pic.twitter.com/wIAvhHbDQz
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 22, 2023
The IDF’s 252nd Reserve Division has completed its operations against the Hamas terror group in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza, and handed over responsibility of the region to the Gaza Division, indicating the military has firm control of that sector, Times of Israel reports.
The combat team of the IDF’s 5th Brigade conducted operational activity in the Kasbah complex in Beit Hanoun last week, according to Arutz Sheva. Together with aerial fire support, observation posts and combat engineering forces, the combat teams cleared the area of the Kasbah, eliminated terrorists, struck dozens of terrorist targets and infrastructure.
Among other things, the forces collected many weapons including Kalashnikov type weapons, grenades, cartridges and ammunition boxes, mortar bombs and vests – including IDF vests, Arutz Sheva writes. The 5th Brigade located uniforms of the Hamas terrorist organization, including children’s uniforms, Hamas documents and telephones, and an IDF kitbag.
The forces also located several tunnel shafts in the homes of Hamas operatives, the largest of which was in a school. From these tunnels terrorists attacked the forces the day before the brigade’s operation.
A camera recovered from the corpse of a dead terrorist by soldiers from the IDF’s 182nd brigade shows Hamas operatives planting bombs in Gaza to use against Israeli troops.
Soldiers of the 931st Battalion engaged terrorists throwing grenades from a position on the third floor of a building. The soldiers reached the building, made contact with the terrorists, and killed them. During sweeps of the building, the soldiers located a camera on one of the terrorist’s bodies, which contained videos of the terrorists placing IEDs and trapping areas to harm IDF soldiers, Arutz Sheva reports.
Soldiers of the 98th Division of the IDF have been operating in the Khan Yunis area in the South of Gaza for three weeks, destroying enemy personnel and terrorist infrastructure.
The forces eliminated many terrorists in close-quarter battles, located dozens of tunnel shafts that were destroyed and exposed significant intelligence materials that contributed to increasing the effectiveness of the operation, Arutz Sheva writes.
The operation is accompanied by a close and precise fire plan known as the “Fire Belt”. The 214th Artillery Brigade and the Commando Brigade strike using guided and accurate weapons such as the ‘Iron Sting’ and other precision missiles.
The IDF and Shin Bet forces eliminated many terrorists through airstrikes, including the Head of Khan Yunis’s UAV Array, the Commander of the Observation Company and field-level Nukhba Commanders in the Khan Yunis Brigade, according to Arutz Sheva.
The 98th Division also found a report to Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade Commander, regarding financial expenses for 2022, revealing Hamas spent over one million dollars on the production of doors and concrete for terror tunnels this year.
The IDF on Friday morning cleared for publication the names of two fallen soldiers whose families were notified:
Lieutenant Shai Ayeli, 21, from Ashkelon, who fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.
Sergeant first class (res.) Tal Shua, 31, from Be’er Sheva, who fell in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.
In addition, a reservist of the 179th Reserve Armored Brigade’s 8104th Battalion, was seriously injured in a battle in the southern Gaza Strip.
A soldier in the Shaked Battalion of the Givati Brigade was seriously injured in a battle in the northern Gaza Strip, and a soldier in the 12th Battalion of the Golani Brigade was seriously injured in battle in the southern Gaza Strip.
The injured soldiers were evacuated for medical treatment and their families were notified.
On Thursday, the names of three fallen soldiers were cleared for publication: Sergeant Lavi Ghasi, 19, from Hashmonaim, fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.
Lieutenant Yaacov Elian, 20, from Ramat Gan, fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.
Lieutenant Omri Shwartz, 21, from Moshav Shadmot Dvora, who fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.
